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The Middle East Smart Landscape Summit concludes successfully

SATURDAY MARCH 23, 2019

(MENAFN - Editorial) The seventh edition of the Middle East Smart Landscape Summit, organized by Expotrade Global has come to a successful close. The event was inaugurated by Eng. Eman Al Mansoori, Director of Engineering – Tender & Contracts, Ministry of Infrastructure Development along with Talib Abdul Kareem Mohammed, CEO of Infrastructure Services Sector, Dubai Municipality in the presence of other VIPs.

The event witnessed over 35 regional and international subject matter experts sharing case studies and insights on the innovative methods and practices to be followed to promote green spaces. Dr. Stainslav Shmelev, Director, Environment Europe emphasized on the role played by an ecosystem in cities, while Fawaz Alharbi, Senior Head-Master Planning, Jeddah Economic City presented a case study that outlined the development strategy behind Jeddah Economic City. The second day of the event was opened by renowned international landscape expert - Neil Davidson, Partner J&L Gibbons, who presented a case study on how London is adapting to meet the requirements of its growing population. His session was followed up by Dr. Hanan Aljabri, Director – Strategic Planning Directorate, Muscat Municipality who presented on re-imagining urban public spaces and the need to create vibrant public spaces as people oriented livable spaces.

Khalil Odeh Ali Shalan, Senior Vice President – Operations & Facility, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority delivered a session on the various sustainable initiatives undertaken at DSOA such as smart subsurface irrigation, green roofs and green walls, amongst others. Delving further into the topic of open spaces was Aaron Booth, Principal / Operations, InSite Planners and Landscape Architects. His presentation titled retrofitting open space as a priority for all of us focused on how innovative open spaces allow a city to connect and provide better quality of living and how retrofitted open spaces can address environmental needs as well as social needs.

Neil Davidson, commented, While innovative solutions need to be specific to location, many of the challenges we face when designing healthy cities are shared across the globe. I am grateful for the opportunity to share some of our knowledge and experiences, from the perspective of a Landscape Architect working on landscape led policy and project delivery in London.”

Across two days, over 300 attendees representing landscape architects, designers, urban planners, engineers and consultants come together to engage in knowledge sharing and learn of the latest innovative solutions in the region that promote sustainable green development.

The program agenda featured topics integral to sustainable urban development such as the role of ecosystems in cities, the importance of green roofs, creating better play experiences for children, working towards creating perfect parks, developing a sustainable blue-green infrastructure, innovative landscape designs in order to create livable cities and developing a sustainable society along with its citizens is key for successful smart cities.

The topic of the rise of inclusive spaces in the urban development was discussed at length during a panel discussion moderated by Hrvoje Cindric, Associate – Middle East Urbanism Leader, Arup. He was joined by experts Dr. Issam Ezzeddine, Architectural Design Director, National Engineering Bureau, Marlon van Maastricht, Senior Manager - Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning & Design Departments, Khatib & Alami, Nicholas Lander, Sustainability Director, Jacobs, Robert Shakespeare, Group Design Director, Landscape Architecture, Cracknell and Steven Velegrinis, Head - Master Planning, AECOM.

Over 30 companies including Cape Reed International, Dynamo Playgrounds, Profile Products, Knauf Insulation, WT Burden, SIS Pitches, RAKNOR, and Consent, to name a few showcased innovative landscape services and solutions at the two-day summit.

The event was recognized to be a tremendous success with Naveed Anwar Virk, Head- Department of Agriculture of Al Bataeh Municipality commenting that the summit was a very informative and advanced platform where new ideas pertaining to the landscape industry were encouraged and promoted.

Source: MENA FN